


Please tell me you're here to kill me

by sqbr



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Fanfiction, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 05:33:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sqbr/pseuds/sqbr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mai knew the city was getting to her when she found herself missing Azula.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Please tell me you're here to kill me

**Author's Note:**

> Set just before her first appearance in "Return to Omashu" in Book 2.

Mai knew the city was getting to her when she found herself missing Azula.

Sure, Azula came with control issues and cruelty and a moderate chance of fiery death, but at least she had a bit of life to her.

Omashu, on the other hand, had no life to it at all. It was not that the inhabitants were literally dead, in fact the death toll was one of the lowest in the invasion. And her father made sure the wheels of Omashu kept turning, pumping out the fabric and ceramics that fuelled the Fire Nation war machine as much as coal or steel.

But that was all Omashu seemed to be: a machine. It made the dull provincial town her father had previously been posted to seem like a vibrant metropolis of thrills and excitement. There were parks and halls, but no picnickers or dancers within them. The annual harvest festival had been cancelled, after it was forbidden for large groups of citizens to assemble. The markets were sparse and poorly attended since all the best produce went back home (the black market was apparently thriving, but there was no way the daughter of the governor would be welcome at that)

Dogged by her irritating and unnecessary escort—The governor cannot appear unconcerned about the safety of his daughter!— she walked empty streets, as the resentful populace stared at her thorough shuttered windows with burning eyes.

She kept waiting for one of them to attack her but no such luck. It would seem she'd finally gotten the hang of being the Good Quiet Daughter who stands around looking pretty and unimportant. Her mother was convinced that the resistance was going to assassinate Tom Tom— after all there was no wound so deep as the loss of one's heir (unless you're Lord Orzai)— but no-one had tried that yet either. Mai would sometimes look up at King Bumi, raving away in his metal box, and think about how much fun it would be to let him go and see which of them would win. All this time in the Earth Kingdom and she'd never had a chance to take on an earth bender.

Instead she went to the empty parks and drilled her attacks on the trees. She thought back to being at school, practicing with Ty Lee and trying not to get killed by Azula and couldn't help but feel a pang of nostalgia.

As another boring day drew into an even more boring night, Mai went for a "scenic stroll" with her mother and brother along the welded metal sheets and rickety scaffolding surrounding the oh-so-tasteful 50 foot tall statue of the great and glorious Fire Lord. Just as she was asking herself whether this was actually better than the alternative of sitting at home and wishing she was dead, she heard a loud noise and was showered with a hail of dust and stones. Her heart skipped a beat: was someone trying to _kill_ them?

Mai smiled and reached for her first set of arrows. Maybe Omashu wasn't so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> When it became clear in "Return to Omashu" that Mai was Zuko's Designated Love Interest I started wondering how they were going to mesh her untroubled complicity with the invasion and Azula's plots (and her brother being left with the enemy!) with her eventual role as a sympathetic co-ruler. While I in the end I was convinced by the Zuko/Mai relationship on a personal level I was still left wondering how she felt at various points about the wider political/ethical issues. I'm definitely not trying to make her more (or less) sympathetic, just poking at her characterisation.
> 
> Another (much shippier :)) Mai-centric story I quite like is [Spilled in Beside Her](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3819434/1/Spilled_in_Beside_Her) by Rawles, covering how she got together with Zuko.


End file.
